Top of the table for Esko 

Many companies and manufacturers make a lot of talk about “future proofing” and make promises that your capital investment will reap rewards regardless of what is coming down the line at you. Added into the capital purchase conundrum is the decision of what market you have, what entry level do you go and spend your cash on and on top of all that, trying to see into the future and guess what you may need tomorrow.

Well if you happen to be looking for finishing equipment, specifically a cutting and creasing system, then Esko may be able to tick all the boxes with its series of equipment. The Kongsberg X series of cutting tables has one of the most impressive lists of options and equipment you will find. The Belgium-based company is known to be forward thinking and innovative and being part of the Danaher Group, has the backing and support to ensure to make the investment in research and development needed for quality and inventive products.

Tried and tested

It is probably best to explain what the Kongsberg X is before explaining how the range is made up. The series of machines is one of a number of well tried and tested cutting tables. At the heart is the now famous Esko steel honeycomb table which has a well-known reputation for being rigid and solid regardless of how much load is placed on it, or years of use.

The honeycomb internals of the table reduces the overall weight and static load of the machine. The science behind the structure actually means it is more rigid than a solid plate of the same thickness. Clearly, if you need a large cutting area and accurately cut product regardless of whether cutting from the edge or middle of the substrate, having virtually no deflection across the table is essential.

So for the sizes available: the Kongsberg X series of machines can cater for a number of different markets, a point I will touch on later. The smallest of units is the X20 which accepts a maximum material size of 1,740 x 1,750mm and a work area of 1,680 x 1,270mm. There are four intermediate models, X22, X24, X44 and X46 each of various increasing sizes up to the largest option the X48. This machine is huge, with a max material size of 2,270 x 6,930mm and a work area of 2,210 x 6,550mm, which is an area of 14.5 square metres.

As for the substrates, the list for each is impressive and very varied. Carton and corrugated board, medium-density fibre board (MDF), honeycomb, carpet, acrylic, foam and aluminium composite material (ACM) is just a selection of the substrates the Kongsberg X series can process. 

You do need to consider tooling etc. depending on your product choice, but a substrate thickness of 50mm for the traverse clearance is standard and can be as high as 95mm depending on Esko’s Application Kit and model size. Given the range of materials and size, your potential client could probably not come up with a combination Esko’s machines cannot cope with.

Do it all

Back to the sizes of machine and what you may wish to use them for. Normally the manufacturer is approached by the customer with the scope of works they would like for the potential purchase. It is then for the manufacturer to produce a specification of a machine to suit.

Given the myriad of selections you can make with the Kongsberg X range, Esko has very helpfully put together four bundles that give you a good steer into the choice for your market.

Designer bundle comes with a FlexiHead toolhead and is set up for cost-efficient sample making. Flexo bundle has the same toolhead as before with tailored workflow for small format production. Sign Light bundle continues with the FlexiHead toolhead and has a wide range of knife tools (without milling) intended for sign-making and finally the Sign bundle with a MultiCUT toolhead which provide a wide range of solutions for sign production.

Once the bundle has been selected, you have the opportunity to upgrade at the point of purchase or later for a further number of changes to specification. Speed and acceleration upgrades are available along with specific upgrades for all four bundles which include items such as dual vacuum zones, full X options if you are upgrading from Design Starter, conveyor feeder or roll feeding and work station upgrades. All Starter bundles can also take the upgrade for extended traverse clearance, additional toolheads, iPC licence upgrades and conveyor belt additions.  
     
Flexibility

So with the table sizes and configuration resolved, there is then the choice of toolheads depending on what substrate you wish to process. The commonly used toolhead is the FlexiHead which is widely used for carton and corrugated board. This head is very robust and powerful and can cut the most complex of shapes. All the toolheads are mounted on a servo motor system so the depth of the cutter can be accurately positioned in the Z axis.

PowerHead is the second of the four choices and has two regular tool positions so the standard tooling can be used. The focus of this toolhead is in addition there is a heavy duty position which allows you to apply 50kgs of force on a 150mm diametre creasing wheel. This is 2.5 times the amount of pressure than can be applied
with conventional toolheads.

Next up is the MultiCUT (High Power) toolhead which has a liquid cooled 3kw milling spindle. Obviously this gives large capacity for power milling products for sign and point of purchase (POP) production. Finally the FoamHead toolhead uses a reciprocating knife specifically designed for foam substrates which can be difficult to process. FoamHead can also be used for honeycomb materials and comes with partial cut through of substrates which can be very useful for foam designs.

Controlling all of this equipment to provide the most efficient production is Esko’s production console which uses a system called i-cut. With all well designed graphic user interfaces (GUI), it uses an icon-based communication system making it practical and easy to use. 

As an option to i-cut you can add Device manager to which of the Kongsberg X machines you have chosen. This option allows the production department to monitor what is going on each table, showing production time to finish, next and future production. Changes can then be made to ensure the most effective production workflow.

Even before the job reaches the table, ArtiosCAD Display Store is a clever piece of software which will allow a designer to use pre-built templates to make the required POP job a reality in a stroke. Box production is just as easy with Quick Box and if you wish to see the whole design in 3D before you commit, use Esko’s Studio software and you will quickly see exactly what the final production will look like.

Realistically, take a look at the Kongsberg X range of machines and the only limit on its capability will be your imagination.


Brian Sims principal consultant, Metis Print Consultancy, www.metis-uk.eu